BILL ANALYSIS
AB 359
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 29, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Lois Wolk, Chair
AB 359 (Gordon) - As Amended: March 17, 2005
SUBJECT : Off-leash Dog Beach: Dockweiler State Beach
SUMMARY : Authorizes the establishment of an off-leash dog
beach pilot program at Dockweiler State Beach in the County of
Los Angeles. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the California Department of Parks and Recreation
(DP&R), the California Coastal Commission, the County of Los
Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, and other interested parties
to enter into an agreement to establish, manage, and evaluate
a one-year off-leash dog beach pilot program at Dockweiler
State Beach.
2)Provides that all costs associated with the pilot project must
be born by private funding sources.
3)Specifies that other ancillary issues associated with the
pilot program shall be addressed in the agreement.
4)Provides that parties to the agreement shall determine
criteria to evaluate the success of the pilot program in each
of specified categories, including reported incidents,
traffic, revenues, public health, volunteer participation, and
financial support.
5)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
benefits of off-leash recreation areas for dogs and
dog-owners, the number of dog zones along the California
coastline, the number of dog owning households in Los Angeles
County, and that there is currently only one public dog beach
in the county.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Places responsibility and authority for operation and
management of units within the state park system with the
state DP&R pursuant to the provisions of the Public Resources
Code. Under the code, state parks are managed for
preservation, historic and cultural values, wildlife habitat
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and recreation.
2)Vests authority, in Public Resources Code Section 5008.1(a),
with the director of the DP&R to determine when it is in the
public interest for visitors to bring animals into state park
units, subject to rules and regulations of the department.
3)Requires, in Public Resources Code Section 5008.1(b), that any
animal brought into a state park must be under the immediate
control of the visitor or confined, and under no circumstances
permitted to pose a threat to public safety, create a public
nuisance, or pose a threat to natural or cultural resources or
improvements in the park. The Department may also require
proof of immunizations and licenses.
4)Provides, in California Code of Regulations, Title 14,
Section 4312(e) that "no person shall bring a dog into, permit
a dog to enter or remain, or possess a dog in units under
control of the Department of Parks and Recreation unless the
dog is on a leash of no more than six feet in length and under
the immediate control of a person or confined in a vehicle.
5)Further provides in Subsection 4312(f)(2) that "no person
shall bring a dog?on any beach adjacent to any body of water
in any unit except in portions of units designated for dogs."
FISCAL EFFECT : The bill provides that costs associated with
the pilot program must be born by private funding sources.
Actual cost estimates for the program are unknown. The project
could conceivably incur both direct costs, for such things as
signage and maintenance, and indirect costs related to staff
resource allocation for development and oversight of the
project, and for monitoring and enforcement.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose : The author states that the purpose of the bill is to
authorize the Department of Parks and Recreation, the County
and City of Los Angeles, and other interested parties to enter
into a memorandum of understanding to establish, manage and
evaluate an off-leash dog beach pilot project at Dockweiler
State Beach. Local dog advocacy groups have been working for
several years to establish an off-leash dog park at this site.
FREEPLAY, a Venice-based dog-owner group and the sponsor of
the bill, argues that there is a great disparity in the
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overall distribution of dog beaches in California. According
to figures compiled by the American Veterinary Medical
Association and published in the Los Angeles Almanac, there
are an estimated 990,000 dog owners in Los Angeles County, and
currently only one dog beach. In comparison, there are
thirteen dog beaches in Marin and San Francisco Counties.
According to the author, there is considerable public support
for the dog beach at the local level, as evidenced by a
declaration from local citizens indicating that thousands of
signatures have been collected on a petition supporting an
off-leash dog park at Dockweiler State Beach.
As noted above, the American Veterinary Medical Association
estimates there are 990,000 dog owning households in Los
Angeles County. However, according to the Los Angeles County
Animal Control, there are only 329,606 licensed dogs in the
county.
2)Dockweiler State Beach : Dockweiler State Beach is located in
Playa del Rey under the take off flight path of the Los
Angeles International Airport. The park is owned by the state
but is operated by the Los Angeles County Department of
Beaches and Harbors pursuant to an agreement with the state
DP&R. In November 1948 DP&R and the City of Los Angeles
entered into a lease agreement for the care, maintenance, and
operation of the beach for a fifty-year period. In May 1975,
the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles entered
into a Joint Powers Agreement that assigned all rights and
responsibilities of the City of Los Angeles under the lease
agreement to the County. In Fiscal year 1999-2000 the
Legislature approve a Budget Change Proposal for DP&R to
negotiate a new operating agreement with the City of Los
Angeles. That agreement was never finalized pending
evaluation of specific terms of the agreement. DP&R is
currently considering negotiating an operating agreement
directly with the County of Los Angeles.
The park includes a 3 mile stretch of shoreline and includes
facilities for volleyball, picnicking, barbeque pits, camping,
surfing, boating, hand gliding, skating, playground, bike
path, and an RV park. Currently, no pets are allowed on the
beach. The beach is staffed with year round life guards
during day light hours and also has a food concession. The RV
park is currently closed for renovations, and is due to reopen
in May of 2005. The RV park is Los Angeles County's only
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campground on the beach. Go City Kids, a Los Angeles City
guide for families, rates the beach highly for family beach
outings. The proposed dog beach area would cover a one-mile
section of the beach between Imperial Highway and the Hyperion
Power Plant.
3)Support : According to FREEPLAY, there are 57 dog beaches in
California and none of these beaches have been shown to have a
negative affect on water quality. Dog Beach Now, an alliance
of dog owners from Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica and Venice
supports the bill and asserts that a comprehensive study of
these dog beaches has shown no liability issues associated
with dog beaches, and no additional costs to counties and
municipalities for maintenance or law enforcement. Dog Beach
Now indicates they have agreed to provide funding for the
start-up costs for the pilot project. Specifically, they have
agreed to pay for signage, plastic bags for dog waste, and
monthly volunteer clean-up crews. They have also agreed to
raise funds for ongoing maintenance costs.
Supporters of the bill point to a successful pilot program in
the City of Long Beach as a model. The Long Beach dog zone
pilot project covers a three acre section of beachfront and
was the result of a collaborative effort that included various
divisions within the City of Long Beach, including the City
Parks Department, the Health Department, Animal Control, the
Lifeguard Bureau, the City Police Marine Patrol Division, the
California Park and Recreation Society, and local citizens
groups such as the Recreation Dog Park Association. A
proposal was developed by the City's Marine Advisory
Commission and a public forum was held to solicit public
input. Specific rules and parameters were agreed upon, and
required approvals were obtained from the Coastal Commission
and the City. The pilot program was approved and implemented
in August 2003, and continued through October 2004.
Evaluation of the project focused on four key factors: patron
compliance with the rules, reported incidents, public health
risks and volunteer participation. The evaluation process
included water quality sampling and incident tracking.
Although all of the objectives were not met perfectly, the
conclusion of the evaluation was that the project was a
success and problems were minimal. In September 2004 the Long
Beach City Council voted unanimously to make the dog park a
permanent recreational feature.
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The committee has received hundreds of letters from individual
citizens in support of AB 359. A resolution submitted by
Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa in support of AB 359 is
pending before the Los Angeles City Council as of the time of
this writing, but has not been acted on by the full council.
In addition to the state statutory authorization provided in
AB 359, local Los Angeles City ordinances that prohibit dogs
on public beaches may need to be amended for the off-leash dog
beach to be approved. County approval may also be required.
4)Opposition : Articles in the Argonaut, a local Playa Del Ray
newspaper, quote representatives of the County of Los Angeles
Department of Beaches and Harbors, and Los Angeles County
Supervisor Don Knabe as opposing the bill, and expressing
concerns that allowing off-leash dogs at the park will create
public health and safety problems. They point out that the
off-leash area is next to a bike path and a planned youth
activities center, and that allowing off-leash dogs will
create conflicts with these other public uses. According to
the Argonaut press, county lifeguards have also raised
objections to the proposal. However, the committee has
received no formal letters of opposition from any of these
entities.
Mr. Thomas Babbitt, a resident of El Segundo, opposes the dog
beach and raises concerns about potential negative impact of
dogs on water quality and on other recreational uses at the
beach. Mr. Babbitt cites statistics maintained by Los Angeles
County lifeguards showing heavy use of the beach by other
recreational users, and also notes that El Segundo already
maintains a dog park only blocks from Dockweiler beach. Mr.
Babbitt also argues that a USC graduate student report relied
on by the supporters, entitled "the Case for Space" is flawed,
and is based on inaccurate assumptions about dog beaches and
beach usage.
5)Background : The State Park System currently includes over 280
miles of coastline, and 278 state park units, at least 60 of
which are state beaches. Dogs are permitted in many of the
state parks, but park rules generally require that dogs be
kept on a controlled leash no more than six feet long. Dogs
are prohibited in most state beach areas. However, according
to Dog Beach Now, a coalition of dog owner advocacy groups,
dogs are allowed in portions of 13 state beach areas that are
managed by local cities or counties. Off-leash areas have
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been designated in a number of county and city parks, and in a
few designated areas in state parks including, for example,
the new Eastshore State Park near San Francisco. The
off-leash dog area is limited to 20% of the Eastshore park
area located at Point Isabel which is locally owned.
The Department in the general plan for the Eastshore State Park
describes the public policy debate on dogs in parks as
follows:
"The appropriateness of dog use in public parks is a highly
charged park management issue that arises on the one hand from
concerns for public health and safety and protection of
habitat values and environmental quality, and on the other
from concerns about individual rights to access public
parklands. Park managers throughout California and the
country are struggling to find fair and appropriate solutions
to the conflicts, real and perceived, between dog access and
the protection of the health, safety and welfare of both park
users and the environment. Given its mission to protect
natural resources and enhance the public's access to and
enjoyment of these resources, State Park's policy has
generally been to prohibit off-leash dog use in state park
projects and severely restrict the areas for on-leash use."
Management issues related to dog activity in state parks
identified by state park managers include concerns that high
levels of dog use may limit other uses by the general public,
potential impacts on wildlife and other sensitive habitat
values, maintaining the public's sense of safety, ensuring
appropriate clean up of waste products to avoid impacts on
water quality and public health, costs of law enforcement,
liability concerns and establishing carrying capacities for
dog areas.
Experience at other dog beach areas has been mixed. Supporters
of the Dog Beach at Ocean Beach in San Diego County note that
dogs have been allowed off-leash at the beach since 1972 with
few incidents. However, the City of San Diego was cited in
2001 by the Regional Water Quality Control Board for San Diego
for water quality issues at the beach. While the water
quality issues apparently were due to a variety of factors,
information from the Ocean Beach Town Council, Dog Beach
Committee, indicates that dogs were identified as the source
of as much as 18% of the pollution. On the other hand, the
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author's office has provided the committee with a letter from
Ellie Goldstein, MD, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA
School of Medicine specializing in infectious diseases,
addressed to the City Council of Los Angeles in April 2004
challenging the assertion that dog beaches pose public health
problems. According to Dr. Goldstein, concerns over public
health risks from dog parks have been greatly exaggerated, and
there have been no problems with infectious diseases in
general, or individual cases in specific, that would limit in
anyway or pose a risk to the public safety from a dog beach.
6)Related Legislation : Legislation in the 2001-2002 Session, SB
712(Speier), would have required a review of specific park
units as potential locations for off-leash dog facilities.
That version of the bill did not pass, but the State Parks
Department subsequently formed a taskforce to study the issue
of establishing off-leash areas in state parks. The
taskforce, which is no longer active, identified specified
criteria for evaluating potential dog areas. The criteria
included choosing sites where dogs would not disturb natural
or cultural resources or displace existing recreational uses,
sites that are fenced or otherwise enclosed, and sites that
are located near urban areas where volunteers could be
organized to maintain the areas. Two potential sites were
identified for pilot projects - Candlestick State Recreation
Area and San Buenaventura State Beach. The pilot projects
were not pursued for unknown reasons. Neither of these parks
currently allow off-leash dog use.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
FREEPLAY (Sponsor)
American SPCA
Animal Protection Institute
California Federation for Animal Legislation
Dog Beach Now
PaliDOG
United Animal Nations
Unleash the Beach
Several hundred letters from individuals
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Opposition
Thomas Babbitt
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096